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The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Director of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in respect of the implementation of the Institutes budget for the financial year 2015. The vote on the decision on discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex IV, Article 5 (1) (a) to Parliaments Rules of Procedure). Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Institutes annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 499 votes to 111 with 5 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies. These recommendations may be summarised as follows: Institutes financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2015 was EUR 7 658 166, representing a decrease of 4.33 % compared to 2014. Budget and financial management: It noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a high budget implementation rate of 98.55 %, indicating that commitments were made in a timely manner, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 % compared to 2014. It noted that, in 2015, the Institute signed a contract with an external consultant to advise on how it could move towards project-based organisation and activity-based budgeting/costing. The services included a range of reforms to maximise workflows, assure quality and improve monitoring and management tools. Members noted with satisfaction that after the successful first year of the project, the Institute continued to fully implement the approach from 2016. Parliament also made a series of observations regarding commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls. It noted that the Institute works closely with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). It held meetings with key partners such as UN Women and UNESCO on gender issues. It also welcomed that the Institute is looking for synergies by pooling certain tasks and introducing shared services with other agencies and took note of the agreement signed between the Institute and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), which was signed in order to exchange services on the exchange of experts between the parties in the area of ex post controls. Parliament noted the Institutes efforts to reorganise its structure to put a focus on communication and stakeholder engagement activities. Collaboration with the European Parliament: Parliament appreciated the contribution of the Institute to the ongoing work of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). It called for further interaction between the legislative and non-legislative priorities of the FEMM Committee and the Institutes research, also taking into account the Gender Equality Index developed by the Institute.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2015. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Institute discharge in respect of the implementation of the agencys budget for the financial year 2015. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Institutes accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies: Institutes financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2015 was EUR 7 658 166, representing a decrease of 4.33 % compared to 2014. Budget and financial management: Members noted that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2015 resulted in a high budget implementation rate of 98.55 %, indicating that commitments were made in a timely manner, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 % compared to 2014. They noted that, in 2015, the Institute signed a contract with an external consultant to advise on how it could move towards project-based organisation and activity-based budgeting/costing. The services included a range of reforms to maximise workflows, assure quality and improve monitoring and management tools. They noted with satisfaction that after the successful first year of the project, the Institute continued to fully implement the approach from 2016. Members also made a series of observations regarding commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures and internal audits and controls. Members noted that the Institute works closely with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). It held meetings with key partners such as UN Women and UNESCO on gender issues. They welcomed that the Institute is looking for synergies by pooling certain tasks and introducing shared services with other agencies and took note of the agreement signed between the Institute and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), which was signed in order to exchange services on the exchange of experts between the parties in the area of ex post controls. Lastly, Members noted the Institutes efforts to reorganise its structure to put a focus on communication and stakeholder engagement activities.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2015, as part of the 2015 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union. The EU's operational expenditure of these institutions takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. From 2014 onwards, the Commission classifies its expenditure as follows: Direct management: the budget is implemented directly by the Commission services. Indirect management: the Commission confers tasks of implementation of the budget to bodies of EU law or national law, such as the EU agencies. Shared management: under this method of budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States. About 80 % of the expenditure falls under this management mode covering such areas as agricultural spending and structural actions. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2015 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective. It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), with a view to granting discharge. Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU. The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge. The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made. Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the EIGE. EIGE: the Institute, which is located in Vilnius (LT), was established by Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council in order to collect, analyse and disseminate information as regards gender equality and to raise awareness on all issues regarding this area. As regards the EIGEs accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2015: Commitment appropriations: - committed: EUR 8 million; - paid: EUR 8 million; - carried-over: EUR 3 million. Payment appropriations: - committed: EUR 10 million; - paid: EUR 7 million; - carried-over: EUR 3 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the EIGE.

1. Notes the Court of Auditors' opinion that the annual accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality (‘EIGE’) present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and that the transactions underlying EIGE's annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects;(Does not affect the English version.)

2. Welcomes the fact that 100 % of the Staff Establishment Plan posts were filled by the end of 2015; points out that, despite a reduction in the establishment plan compared to the previous year, the personnel costs increased due to an increased employee turnover rate (28 %); highlights the reported high workload of the staff of EIGE and repeats its calls for more staff to be allocated to EIGE to work on priority areas, including violence against women, and to strengthen its capacity to assist the Commission by providing relevant data and technical assistance;

4. Is concerned that in 2015 the level of carry-overs of payments for Title III (operational expenditure) increased to 61 %, compared to 54 % in 2014; notes that, according to the Court of Auditors, this mainly results from the nature of activities of EIGE which span over many months, often beyond year-end; repeats its previous calls on EIGE to step up effortscalls on EIGE to reduce the level of carry-over of such payments;

5. Appreciates the contribution of EIGE to the ongoing work of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality; points outnotes that the outcome of the external evaluation of EIGE was positive overall; calls for better use of the Experts Forum’ and for higher synergies with other stakeholders;

5. Appreciates the contribution of EIGE to the ongoing work of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality; calls for further interaction between legislative and non-legislative priorities of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the Institute’s research, taking also into account the Gender Equality Index developed by the Institute; points out that the outcome of the external evaluation of EIGE was positive overall; calls for better use of the Experts Forum’ and for higher synergies with other stakeholders;

5 a. Welcomes EIGE's key achievements of 2015, in particular the second edition of the Gender Equality Index, the finalisation of the Gender Statistics Database and the implementation of the on-line gender mainstreaming platform;

5 b. Notes EIGE's efforts to reorganise its structure to put a focus on communication and stakeholder engagement activities and calls for further coordination with the Commission in order to ensure that EIGE's technical assistance supports the tasks linked to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of EU policies and that gender mainstreaming is effectively implemented in all the phases of the policy cycle;

6. Welcomes the prioritising of the work on several areas with outputs of high quality and high visibility, without losing focus on gender mainstreaming; in the event that Regulation No 1922/2006 is reviewed, calls for the incorporation ofurges that the fight against violence against women, female genital mutilation and migrant women should be incorporated into the tasks of EIGE;

7. Is of the opinion, on the basis of the data available now, that discharge can be granted to the Director of EIGE in respect of the implementation of the EIGE's budget for the financial year 2015.deleted

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

2017-10-06

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2017-09-29

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Final act published in Official Journal

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http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ:L:2017:252:TOC

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OJ L 252 29.09.2017, p. 0232

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Procedure completed, awaiting publication in Official Journal

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Procedure completed

2017-09-14

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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=29325&l=en

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Results of vote in Parliament

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Results of vote in Parliament

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Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading

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Results of vote in Parliament

2017-05-31

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CELEX:52016PC0475(01):EN

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CELEX:52016DC0475:EN

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CELEX:52016DC0475:EN

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CELEX:52016PC0475(01):EN

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The European Parliament decided to grant
discharge to the Director of the European Institute for Gender
Equality (EIGE) in respect of the implementation of the
Institutes budget for the financial year 2015.

The vote on the decision on discharge covers the
closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex IV, Article 5 (1)
(a) to Parliaments Rules of Procedure).

Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it
has obtained reasonable assurances that the Institutes annual
accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the
underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted
by 499 votes to 111 with 5 abstentions, a resolution containing a
series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the
decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations
set out in the resolution
on performance, financial management and control of EU
agencies.

These recommendations may be summarised as
follows:

Institutes financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the
European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2015
was EUR 7 658 166, representing a decrease of
4.33 % compared to 2014.

Budget and financial management: It noted that the budget monitoring efforts during
the financial year 2015 resulted in a high budget implementation
rate of 98.55 %, indicating that commitments were made in a
timely manner, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 %
compared to 2014. It noted that, in 2015, the Institute signed a
contract with an external consultant to advise on how it could move
towards project-based organisation and activity-based
budgeting/costing. The services included a range of
reforms to maximise workflows, assure quality and improve
monitoring and management tools. Members noted
with satisfaction that after the successful first year of the
project, the Institute continued to fully implement the approach
from 2016.

Parliament also made a series of observations
regarding commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management
of conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures
and internal audits and controls.

It noted that the Institute works closely with the
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European
Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
(Eurofound). It held meetings with key partners such as UN
Women and UNESCO on gender issues.

It also welcomed that the Institute is looking for
synergies by pooling certain tasks and introducing shared services
with other agencies and took note of the agreement signed between
the Institute and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency
(Frontex), which was signed in order to exchange services on the
exchange of experts between the parties in the area of ex post
controls.

Parliament noted the Institutes efforts to
reorganise its structure to put a focus on communication and
stakeholder engagement activities.

Collaboration with the European
Parliament: Parliament appreciated
the contribution of the Institute to the ongoing work of the
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). It called
for further interaction between the legislative and non-legislative
priorities of the FEMM Committee and the Institutes research,
also taking into account the Gender Equality Index developed by the
Institute.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report
by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of
the implementation of the budget of the European Institute for
Gender Equality for the financial year 2015.

The committee called on the European Parliament to
grant the Director of the Institute discharge in respect of the
implementation of the agencys budget for the financial year
2015.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had
obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the
Institute for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the
underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on
Parliament to approve the closure of the
Institutes accounts. They made, however, a number of
recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the
discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations
that appear in the draft
resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU
agencies:

Institutes financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the European
Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2015 was
EUR 7 658 166, representing a decrease of
4.33 % compared to 2014.

Budget and financial management: Members noted that the budget monitoring efforts during
the financial year 2015 resulted in a high budget implementation
rate of 98.55 %, indicating that commitments were made in a
timely manner, representing a slight decrease of 0.5 %
compared to 2014. They noted that, in 2015, the Institute signed a
contract with an external consultant to advise on how it could move
towards project-based organisation and activity-based
budgeting/costing. The services included a range of reforms to
maximise workflows, assure quality and improve monitoring and
management tools. They noted with satisfaction that after the
successful first year of the project, the Institute continued to
fully implement the approach from 2016.

Members also made a series of observations regarding
commitment and carry-overs, the prevention and management of
conflicts of interests, procurement and recruitment procedures and
internal audits and controls.

Members noted that the Institute works closely with
the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions (Eurofound). It held meetings with key partners such as
UN Women and UNESCO on gender issues.

They welcomed that the Institute is looking for
synergies by pooling certain tasks and introducing shared services
with other agencies and took note of the agreement signed between
the Institute and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency
(Frontex), which was signed in order to exchange services on the
exchange of experts between the parties in the area of ex
post controls.

Lastly, Members noted the Institutes efforts to
reorganise its structure to put a focus on communication and
stakeholder engagement activities.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the
consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the
financial year 2015, as part of the 2015 discharge
procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Institute for
Gender Equality (EIGE).

CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU
consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose
expenditure is included in the general budget of the
Union.

The EU's operational expenditure of these institutions
takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and
managed.

From 2014 onwards, the Commission classifies its
expenditure as follows:

Direct management: the
budget is implemented directly by the Commission
services.

Indirect management: the
Commission confers tasks of implementation of the budget to bodies
of EU law or national law, such as the EU
agencies.

Shared management: under
this method of budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member
States. About 80 % of the expenditure falls under this
management mode covering such areas as agricultural spending and
structural actions.

This Commission document concerns the EU's
consolidated accounts for the year 2015 and details how spending by
the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated
annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the
activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU
from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.

It is the responsibility of the Commission's
Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts
and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the
financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows
of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Institute
for Gender Equality (EIGE), with a view to granting
discharge.

Discharge procedure: the
final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for
a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the
external control of budget implementation and is the decision by
which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation,
"releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its
responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end
of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the
discharge authority within the EU.

The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes:
(i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the
discharge.

The final discharge report including specific
recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary
by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up
report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has
taken to implement the recommendations made.

Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure,
including the EIGE.

EIGE: the Institute,
which is located in Vilnius (LT), was established by Regulation
(EC) No 1922/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council
in order to collect, analyse and disseminate information as regards
gender equality and to raise awareness on all issues regarding this
area.

As regards the EIGEs accounts, these are
presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual
accounts of the European Union for 2015: